4 ms·

With the scale of the attack, could it be cheaper to pay this than recover? What if they get the money and don’t provide the keys?

arcticbull 5y ago
They're building a brand. If they don't release the keys they won't get paid next time they hack someone. My understanding is ransomware groups have decent customer service too - some even have numbers you can call for help. Better than the majority of tech companies ;) There's one way to end this for US businesses: criminalize paying ransomware ransoms, and end the ability to convert fiat to crypto. Kill the fiat gateways, kill the scammers.
- capableweb 5y ago
  > There's one way to end this for US businesses: criminalize paying ransomware ransoms, and end the ability to convert fiat to crypto. Would be enough with just the first, and the second wouldn't even do anything, I don't think ransomware people are interested in converting fiat to cryptocurrencies, they are interested in the reverse. But criminalizing would A) legitimize cryptocurrency and probably B) build more hype around it. Use existing laws and tools for stopping existing breakage of those laws, makes sense. Come up with new bans that affect more than the action you want to affect, not much sense.
  - arcticbull 5y ago
    Build all the hype you want around it, the price would pancake if the only way to buy was via localbitcoins, and that's really the only thing most people care about.
- axiosgunnar 5y ago
  Then we should destroy their brand. Fake a few high profile ransomware attacks in their name. Make the companies complain loudly that they „paid“ you but you didn't provide the keys and they had to recover the data manually. What are they gonna do, sue you? :-)
  - zimpenfish 5y ago
    > Fake a few high profile ransomware attacks in their name. Won't you run into the problem of them being able to say "look, that's not on our list of keypairs, nor is it a keypair we've ever used; it ain't us" and being somewhat believed?
    - arcticbull 5y ago
      I'm not sure that would matter - the FUD alone might just be enough. Everyone expects the ransomware authors to lie, but if the government picked a few high enough profile mid-caps to play along, made it look legit, folks would probable ignore the grumblings of the ransomware authors and attribute it to incompetence.
  - arcticbull 5y ago
    That's actually a really good idea.
  - Proven 5y ago
    > Fake a few high profile ransomware attacks in their name. Presumably those crimes should be funded with taxpayer money and committed against "randomly" selected taxpayers? You're truly US Attorney General material. Eric Holder v2! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal

arcticbull 5y ago

They're building a brand. If they don't release the keys they won't get paid next time they hack someone. My understanding is ransomware groups have decent customer service too - some even have numbers you can call for help. Better than the majority of tech companies ;) There's one way to end this for US businesses: criminalize paying ransomware ransoms, and end the ability to convert fiat to crypto. Kill the fiat gateways, kill the scammers.

capableweb 5y ago
> There's one way to end this for US businesses: criminalize paying ransomware ransoms, and end the ability to convert fiat to crypto. Would be enough with just the first, and the second wouldn't even do anything, I don't think ransomware people are interested in converting fiat to cryptocurrencies, they are interested in the reverse. But criminalizing would A) legitimize cryptocurrency and probably B) build more hype around it. Use existing laws and tools for stopping existing breakage of those laws, makes sense. Come up with new bans that affect more than the action you want to affect, not much sense.
- arcticbull 5y ago
  Build all the hype you want around it, the price would pancake if the only way to buy was via localbitcoins, and that's really the only thing most people care about.
axiosgunnar 5y ago
Then we should destroy their brand. Fake a few high profile ransomware attacks in their name. Make the companies complain loudly that they „paid“ you but you didn't provide the keys and they had to recover the data manually. What are they gonna do, sue you? :-)
- zimpenfish 5y ago
  > Fake a few high profile ransomware attacks in their name. Won't you run into the problem of them being able to say "look, that's not on our list of keypairs, nor is it a keypair we've ever used; it ain't us" and being somewhat believed?
  - arcticbull 5y ago
    I'm not sure that would matter - the FUD alone might just be enough. Everyone expects the ransomware authors to lie, but if the government picked a few high enough profile mid-caps to play along, made it look legit, folks would probable ignore the grumblings of the ransomware authors and attribute it to incompetence.
- arcticbull 5y ago
  That's actually a really good idea.
- Proven 5y ago
  > Fake a few high profile ransomware attacks in their name. Presumably those crimes should be funded with taxpayer money and committed against "randomly" selected taxpayers? You're truly US Attorney General material. Eric Holder v2! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal